Hot and Dry Weather Continues (updated)

June 2011 at Dodge City ended hot and dry as has been typical so far this year. There were 10 days of 100 degrees or higher which is the 2nd greatest number of 100 degree days in June for Dodge City.

The average temperature at Dodge City for June ended tied for the 4th warmest June on record for Dodge City with the average temperature of 79.9 degrees, which was 5.6 degrees above normal.

Precipitation was sparse at Dodge City with only 0.32" falling as was the case at many locations although there were a few spots that did receive substantial rainfall. For the year Dodge City is way behind the average/normal for this time of year.

Since January 1st of this year, only 3.34" has fallen at the airport in Dodge City and this is the second driest start to the year since records have been collected (since 1875).

For Dodge City

Jan-June Year

2.47"

1893

3.34"

2011

3.66"

1950

3.86"

1875

4.58"

1917

4.72"

1954

4.95"

1910

4.98"

1956

5.07"

1880

5.14

2002

And it's not much better going back to September 1st of last year.

What is alarming is that even if "normal" precipitation occurs from July 1st until the end of the year at Dodge City, this year will still end up as the 20th driest on record. It's going take many months of above normal rainfall to make up the deficit.

The following graph shows just how far behind accumulated precipitation has been and especially compared to the last two years.

Across western Kansas, there were actually a few spots that had meaningful rain but these spots were generally isolated. Hugoton for example received 3.17" of rainfall and Utica recorded 3.19".

The BIG story is the drought that has been on-going since last fall, especially in the southern and western portions of our area! For instance, since September 1st of 2010, only 2.16" of precipitation had been observed at our Cooperative Observer located 7 miles WSW of Sublette. This is a mere 15 percent of normal. However, near Bison 15.78" had fallen during the same period.